Need for Speed Redux

[Birna Rørslett]

No harm in trying? Just remember to set your Z6 to 'silent mode' to avoid any clash between rear part of the lens and the shutter curtains.

The projected image circle of the 42mm lens probably is a bit smaller than with the 50mm designs.

[Snoogly]

I’ll report back once the adapter has arrived.

[Birna Rørslett]

Since the threaded adapter for the 42mm lens is 70mm, which is wider than the camera mount, you can test the possibility of getting infinity focus already with the items you have. Just set the camera to 'silent mode', push the lens flush to the mount, and look what is shown on the screen.

[Frank Fremerey]

One is *not* forced to shoot these 'X-ray' lenses at near infinity of course. Having a focusable adapter means it is far easier than before to get the precise framing one requires, whether at distance or in close-ups.

Protea by Rodenstock TV-Heligon 50/0.75 on the Z30. I slightly widened the internal port over the sensor to avoid the rear parts of the lens conflicting with the frame there. The lens now focuses perfectly to infinity also on this DX camera. Trimming was quickly done using a small scalpel

Absolutely gorgeous

[golunvolo]

Finally got all the parts: 52m to 65m ring; 65m to 65m 17/35mm helicoid; 65m to z mount.

  If using only the 52 to 65m and the 65 to z mount, the lens is flushed with the camera. Still, infinity is not reached, more or less 200 meters
  First image, lens as close as possible to the sensor, focused on the antennas-ish
  Second, a little screw work got me to focus on the hanging clothes.

[golunvolo]

With adapter ring + helicoid + mount, the maximum focus distance drops to a little over 1 meter. A couple of shots to show magnification. and a extra one just because I had it on my hands 


  All images with a Z6 body

[Birna Rørslett]

Well, not exactly what we had hoped for. However, you now can focus the lens .... and the helicoid could be replaced with something slimmer, perhaps? There are 10-11mm extension tubes available.

Paco, if you can provide detailed close-ups of the rear end of the lens mount, I can evaluate whether a bespoke solution using a factory Z mount and a 58-65mm step ring is feasible. That might shave off 1-2mm.

[golunvolo]

There you go.
1.: 52m to 65m; 65m to 65m 17/35mm helicoid; 65m to Z mount.
2.: step up ring installed
3 and 4.: step up ring + mount adapter. This is as close as I can get to the sensor. I think the rear actually touches the plastic just before the sensor. It focuses at maximum of 200mts, more or less

[golunvolo]

Same thing but using the helicoid.
1 and 2: the lens is of course farther away, bigger magnification and less vingeting. With this set up it focuses from approximately 1 mt down to a few ctms, as shown in the pictures above. 

[Erik Lund]

Nicely done

[Snoogly]

Getting so close to the sensor makes me worry about IBIS. Am I wrong to worry?

[Birna Rørslett]

No danger, as the cutout frame in front of the sensor will limit how close to the sensor surface the 95/1.4 lens can be seated. However, my Oude Delft Rayxar 50/0.75 goes much closer, to approx. 1mm, for infinity focus. I try to ignore this and shoot away, then if required clean the sensor on a later occasion (this is with the Z9, but will also work on the Z6/7 if these cameras are set to silent mode).

[Birna Rørslett]

To get a larger area covered by the "X-ray" lenses, image stitching is a possibility. For this I tend to use the tiny Nikon Z30 to host the beefy Rodenstock 50mm f/0.75 TV-Heligon. with this camera, my Oude Delft 50mm f/0.75 Rayxar won't focus properly to infinity (it goes to around 100m, which is far off infinity foucs) due to the slightly larger rear element which interferes with the innards of the camera.

Provided enough image overlap is present, image quality can be impressive.  100% crop of a large panorama is shown here. Right click to open image in a separate window to view it in full size.



It was snowing, in case viewers wonder about the white specks all around Not image noise.